Todd Monken heaps praise on Kirby Smart, Georgia culture
Todd Monken didn’t win the 2022 Broyles Award on Tuesday. It went to TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, but the Bulldog offensive play caller did get a chance to speak.
It’s not often that we get to see that. Monken has one set meeting with reporters every year but that usually turns into another meeting or two with the Bulldogs making the postseason.
He was up for the award for a reason, Georgia is 13-0 with one of the nation’s most balanced, effective and efficient offenses. Stetson Bennett is on his way to New York to partake in the Heisman Trophy ceremony after becoming the schools’ first 3,000-yard passer since 2013. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff and the favorites to win it all for the second straight season.
Yeah, things are going well in the Classic City. Monken is a big reason for that, but he’s not patting himself on the back. Instead, he’s passing the praise to his boss.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and been around a lot of great coaches and my whole family is in coaching,” Monken said on Tuesday. “There’s nobody I trust more than Kirby Smart in terms of we’re going to win, we’re going to work, we’re going to recruit — and that’s over 56 years.”
Monken has been around long enough to at least say the same thing as other coaches, the biggest factor in success is having great players. It’s true in almost every sense as well, but Monken made reference to it a few times as he spoke in Little Rock, Ark.
But the veteran coordinator has also gotten a lot out of Georgia’s talent. Bennett has obviously flourished. Former three-star prospect Ladd McConkey has developed into one of UGA’s top playmakers. Kenny McIntosh was a middling four-star, maybe on the low side, during his recruitment and basically tread water for three years before busting out for over 1,100 total yards as a senior.
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We haven’t even mentioned the tight ends yet where Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington are ranked No. 1 and No. 4 on the team in receiving, respectively. The Bulldogs top three receivers in terms of yardage, Bowers, McConkey and McIntosh, all play different positions with different roles in the passing game.
The run game has taken off in the second half of the season. Each of the Bulldogs primary tailbacks — McIntosh, Daijun Edwards, and Kendall Milton — has over 500 yards rushing on the year and they’ve each had a 100-yard game. The offensive line, made up entirely of players who have redshirted, is also quite talented.
Monken made reference to a comment made by Jim Harbaugh last season. The Michigan head man was throwing a barb at Ohio State head coach Ryan Day when he said it but Harbaugh said that some people are born on third base but they think that they’ve hit a triple. Monken thinks that might be the case with him.
“A chance to come to Georgia, landed on third base,” Monken. “I wasn’t like TCU. It wasn’t like at Knoxville. I came into a culture that was already established, had really good players, and all we had to do was fight like hell to make it better. And that doesn’t mean my whole career I’ve landed on third base, for God’s sakes. I worked my ass off, OK? Let’s at least be honest here. But I am very appreciative of opportunities that I’ve gotten and one thing about it is that I’m a just byproduct of our players, Kirby Smart and the culture, and our coaching staff.”
